Bite 11 - Large Numbers

Last time we learned 0 - 10. They are never enough right? (there’s always inflation…)

So here we are. Larger numbers.

Hundreds

Add 百 after digits to express hundreds (100s).

百
baak3

Hundred
100

千

Same idea with 百. Not gonna expand from here.

千
cin1

thousand
1,000

Before we go further, we need to clarify one thing: East-asians deal with larger number differently, so do Cantonese, being part of the culture. Look at this scale:

千       | 萬             | 億               | 兆
1,000    | 10,000        | 100,000,000      | 1,000,000,000,000
Thousand | Ten-thousands | Hundred-millions | Trillion 

Western culture counts by multiples of thousand; East-asian cultures count by multiples of TEN thousand. Every step up adds 4 digits.

It will need some time getting used to - we spent some time wrapping our minds around thousands too - fair and even :p

萬

萬
maan6

Ten-thousand
10,000

億

億
yik1

Hundred-million
100,000,000

兆

兆
siu6

Trillion
1,000,000,000,000

Wrap-up

We learnt 百, 千, 萬, 億, 兆. From 萬 onwards, every step adds 4 zeros i.e. every step is ten thousand (10,000x) larger than the previous one.

What? That’s it?!

Yes. Let’s leave composing numbers to the next bite - and I promise it is long. In fact we have it in the right bottom corner already. Click!